Media Release

State and local law enforcement agencies in coordination with local broadcasters will conduct a test of the MAILE AMBER Alert system at 11:45 a.m. on Wednesday, September 19. The test will use the Civil Defense Emergency Alert System and will originate from the Hawaii Police Department in Hilo. The test is being conducted to ensure that equipment on each island is working properly in case an actual alert is necessary.

The MAILE AMBER Alert plan is a voluntary partnership between the four county police departments, State Civil Defense, the Department of Transportation, the Department of the Attorney General’s Missing Child Center- Hawaii and local broadcasters. The program was established to notify the public when a child has been abducted and to solicit help in locating the child and abductor.

MAILE AMBER is an acronym for Minor Abducted in Life-threatening Emergency and America’s Missing Broadcast Emergency Response. The program was named in memory of 6-year-old Maile Gilbert of Kailua, Oahu, and 9-year-old Amber Hagerman of Arlington, Texas. Maile was abducted on August 25, 1985, from a party in Kailua. Her killer was located several hours later and led detectives to Kaena Point, where he had buried Maile’s body.

For a MAILE AMBER Alert to be issued in Hawaii, the victim must be 17 years of age or younger and believed to be in a life-threatening situation. Moreover, police must have useful information, such as a description of the suspect, the type of vehicle used in the abduction, the license number and the direction of travel.

For further information on Hawaii’s MAILE AMBER Alert program, call the Missing Child Center-Hawaii, a program of the Department of the Attorney General at 808-586-1449. For more information on the upcoming test, call Captain Larry Weber with the Hawaii Police Department at 961-2251.